Bell Mobility has just announced that their new GSM/HSPA network, shared with previously-CDMA frenemy Telus, has gone live! What does that mean? Yesterday, Rogers and their Fido subsidiary were the only place to go for Apple's iPhone (or a BlackBerry Bold if that's how you roll). Today -- technically as soon as Telus announces -- you have your choice of 3.5 carriers (Fido is still Rogers).

TiPb, among others, has been hearing rumors for months now that Bell and Telus' new GSM-based HSPA network would be up and running by November, and that the iPhone would follow along immediately there after. Nice to see some confirmation via Canadian stalwart, the Globe and Mail, however:

Yes, the Canadian App Store Categories tab really is all-Skype, all the time and has been for me since just after iPhone 3.1 launched last Wednesday (and no, the irony isn't lost on us). Since App Store is fed by the web, I figured Apple would realize it and fix whatever feed needed fixing, but so far no such luck.

I tried TUAW's workaround -- switching to the US App Store an back, but iTunes intercepted me saying I couldn't change stores until I'd spent whatever iTunes credit I had left in my account, and my rentals expired (I don't currently have any rentals -- the only one expired last weekend).

So I'm back to hoping Apple realizes it and fixes it, but if anyone does come up with a repeatable user-end fix, do let all of us Canadians know in the comments.

Skype [free - iTunes link], which debuted for the rest of the world back in March, is finally available for iPhone and iPod touch users in Canada. What took so long?

A "territorial restriction" over the licensing of a single, solitary audio codec used to play sound from Skype on the iPhone. No, we [secret Canadian curse word] you not. That's it, and it's been resolved, so go get it!

Of course, it's still not good news all around, as SkypeIn remains locked out of Canada du